Bon Voyage Macy's Northwest: 750 Jobs Go Poof

Back in the early '00s, Seattlest spent some time freelancing at Macy's Northwest's corporate offices, coming up with exciting new ways to talk about 30% off flatware and learning more than we ever cared to about thread count. The corporate offices are downtown on the top floor in the former Bon building. It's a windowless floor -- a cave in the sky -- and, atmosphere-wise, one of the most depressing places we ever worked.

The people were great, though. Lots of them had previously worked for Nordstrom or Eddie Bauer or both -- those three companies have been Seattle's refuges for retail designers and writers.

At least, they were -- Macy's announced today that they're consolidating regional HQs and cutting jobs across the country. Macy's Northwest -- formerly the Bon Marche's corporate offices -- is closing and being folded into Macy's West. The local CEO is moving to San Francisco to head the newly consolidated regional office, but 750 other local jobs are disappearing.

We assume a lot of people we worked with are losing their jobs. We noticed when we were there that Macy's seemed staffed by two kinds of creatives: People who had been there for three years at most, who were obviously building portfolios and shopping around for something better; and people who'd been there 10+ years, who'd obviously decided this job was going to sustain them as long as it was there. We're hoping they land on their feet, but we know those are the people who are going to have the hardest time.

Still, it's not hard to have seen this coming. Macy's is the country's last big all-purpose department store, a generalist in an era that values specialists. They're also saddled with the inherent tension of wanting to appeal to luxury shoppers but needing to run constant sales to get people in the door. At Nordstrom, a sale is a twice-annual event; at Macy's, a day without sales is the exception.

Given that Macy's isn't making money and has long been incorporating a lot of smaller department store chains that they bought out, it's no surprise that operations were streamlined.

Still, we're glad we didn't sign on as a permanent employee. That upstairs cave was a little too dank, and the future of retail copywriting seemed to narrow and depressing. But we wish everyone there all the best, regardless. As we recall, you don't have web access at work, but let us know how you're doing when you can, OK?

It's pimp your own photo day at Seattlest!